Today’s guest blog post is by AAA member, Clare Boulanger. Dr. Boulanger is a self-declared Anthropologist on the Loose. She is seeking assistance in her current research project. Please contact her directly at clareboulanger(at)gmail(dot)com with your response.

I’m conducting research into anthropology programs and faculty positions that have succumbed to program deletion and reductions in force, as well as those that faced such threats and survived (though perhaps in a different form). If you are a present or former anthropology faculty member who:

–lost your position and your program was eliminated, or

–was reduced from a program that continues to exist, or

–is teaching or has taught in a program that was in danger of elimination but was not eliminated, or

–was in danger of reduction but was, in the end, not reduced,

I would greatly appreciate hearing from you (please specify which one of the above categories most closely describes your experience; if none is close, invent your own!). I realize that those who suffered the worst of these outcomes may not consult this blog, but if readers know of someone whose experience conforms to one of the descriptions above, please give him/her my contact information. I can be reached at clareboulanger(at)gmail(dot)com

Depending on the amount and quality of data collected, the purpose of this study may be manifold. First, I would like to keep up my research skills while I too am between jobs; second, I want to know why programs fail and positions are lost; third, I want to know what strategies have succeeded in saving programs and positions. Ultimately, I would like to learn more about a changing academy in a changing United States, and how anthropology can adapt to survive in what is often advertised as the New Reality.

Standard guidelines on informed consent will apply, of course, and your identity and the identity of your institution will be protected.